RusVelo rider Tatyana Antoshina opened the medal score for RusVelo in the national championships held in the regional center of Tula 160 km south of Moscow. The title defender left the ramp last but didn’t actually have much need for a tactical ride marking the rivals’ splits – it took her 37.51.90 to finish 28 km-long hilly highway course, 1.56 clear of the silver medal winner Kseniya Dobrynina (Astana BePink) and 2.09 ahead of Irina Molicheva (Pratomagno). It was a perfect show of power and regular pedaling. Two more RusVelo riders made the top-10: Aleksandra Burchenkova (7th) and Aizhan Zhaparova (9th).

RusVelo DS Sergey Morozov said:
“It looks an easy win if you base your judgment on the result sheet, but it wasn’t. Frankly speaking, at the start of the lead-up period to the nationals our prospects didn’t look that bright. We held a long and exhausting high-altitude training camp, after the comeback to the sea level there was a serious drop of speed, but after all the missing links took their places dead on time. We chose a meticulous approach, filmed the course in March (it was no problem for me as a Tula local); we were quick to realize that Tatyana’s high-cadence style didn’t fit in here, and we focused on strength and sheer power at no more than 90 rpm. Tanya held on perfectly, her rhythm was fantastic. We have no intention to pause and rest on our laurels here; we know which loose ends we have to pull up before getting over to a more ambitious goal. Our special thanks to the management and staff, it’s their victory too”.

Tatyana Antoshina said:
“It hasn’t quite sunk in as yet, all what I feel is that it was hard, very hard. I rode near my limit all the time, but I’ve never got over it. The main thing was not to falter for a moment, and I didn’t. But I also see clearly where I can improve, I feel I can do it, so it makes me optimistic as to the season’s prospects”.